BOTANICAL TERMS. 
39 
BOTANICAL TERMS, 
APPLIED TO THE ELEMENTARY PARTS AND 
ORGANS OF PLANTS, &C. 
The different parts of plants, as well as the 
elementary matter which composes them, are 
necessarily distinguished by different terms : 
these and their various modifications, and the 
different modes in which they are applied, are 
here briefly explained. 
Aculei ; the same as prickles, which see. 
Air cell ; a sort of cavity, or opening, exist- 
ing in the interior of plants, among the tissues 
of which they are composed ; they communi- 
cate with the stomates, or breathing pores of 
plants. 
Alburnum ; the sap wood of trees, or the 
outermost and last formed layer of the woody 
portion of the stem, immediately beneath the 
bark. 
Arbor ; a tree, that is a plant with peren- 
nial branches, supported on a trunk. 
Arborescent ; having a tendency to become 
a tree. 
Arbrisseau ; the French name for a shrub. 
Arbuscula ; a little tree, that is, a jjlant 
intermediate in size between a shrub and a 
tree. 
Arbustum ; a shrub, that is, a plant having 
perennial branches, but without any support- 
ing trunk. 
Ascending axis ; a term applied to the main 
stem of plants, or that part around which the 
leaves and other appendages are developed. 
Barbs; forked hairs occurring on some 
plants. 
Dole ; the trunk or stem of a tree. 
Bract; a small leaf situated on the pedun- 
cle, from the axil of which a flower is deve- 
loped ; or those leaves which are situated 
between the true leaves and the calyx. In 
some plants the bracts are coloured and very 
showy ; sometimes they are mere scales, and in 
other cases they resemble thorns. 
Bristles; short stiff hairs, occurring chiefly 
on the stem. 
liiids ; scaly bodies, issuing from the axil 
of the leaves, or extremity of the branches, 
containing the rudiments of future branches, 
leaves, and blossoms ; they are connected with 
the stem or branch by means of a short fleshy 
pedicle, in which the scales originated. The 
manner in which the incipient parts are folded 
in the buds is called aestivation. 
Buisson ; a French name for a low, much 
branched shrub. 
Bulbs ; scaly bodies analogous to loaf buds. 
they are usually produced under ground, but 
sometimes above, and have the power of pro- 
pagating themselves by developing new bulbs 
in the axils of the scales. There are two 
kinds, the Indicated and the naked. 
Cambium ; the elaborated sap, — a mucous 
viscid layer, interspersed between the bark 
and the wood, convertible, and in the vege- 
table economy converted into tissue, for the 
formation of new cells or vessels, or into pecu- 
liar ingredients of which the cells or vessels 
may be the repositories. 
Caudex ; the trunk of a tree which is divi- 
sible into two distinct portions : — the caudex 
ascendens, and caudex descendens, the hitter 
answering to the root, the former to the stem. 
Caudex repens, is the same as rhizoma. 
Caidescant ; acquiring a stem. 
Cellular tissue; transparent vesicles, the 
soft pulpy mass composing the succulent 
parts of plants, and constituting the principal 
bulk of herbaceous plants, and a notable pro- 
portion of many parts even of wooden ones, 
especially in the younger parts. 
Cilia ; long hairs forming a fringe like an 
eye-lash on the margin of any part. 
: ; Collet ; the point of union between the as- 
cending and descending axis, or the root and 
stem ; it is usually regarded as a very vital 
part. 
Conservative organs; the organs whose 
functions regard merely the growth and health 
of the plant, that is, the root, stem, leaves, 
and stipules. 
Crijptogamous ; a term signifying hidden 
marriage, applied to plants without visible 
flowers, such as ferns, mosses, lichens, sea- 
weeds, and fungi. 
Cuticle; a membrane forming the outer 
covering or scarf skin of plants, found on 
every part exposed to the air, except the 
stigma and spongioles, but absent from the 
surface of plants which live under water. It 
is usually a delicate body, but is sometimes 
very hard. 
Descending axis; a term applied to the 
main root of plants. 
Ducts ; conical tubes, differing from spiral 
vessels chiefly in not unrolling ; their use is 
a disputed point. 
Elementary organs; the membrane and 
substance of vegetable tissue in its earliest 
stage of growth. 
Epidermis; the cuticle, or outer envelope 
or integument of plants, extending over their 
whole surface, except the summit of the pistil, 
and the spongioles. 
Epiphytes} plants which grow upon other 
plants without drawing any nutriment from 
them ; such as the majority of that singular 
tribe of plants, the orchids. 
Fibre; an exceedingly fine hair-like por- 
tion of the tissue of a plant, which separates 
in one direction only : thus the woody tissue 
consists of fibres in close contact. The finer 
parts of n ots are also called fibres. 
FUmer'j a terminal bud enveloping the re- 
